2nd ICAI 2022

International Conference on Automotive Industry 2022

Mladá Boleslav, Czech Republic

The Position of the Chinese Electric Car Market in the Global Context Tereza Hrtúsová 1 , Tomáš Kozelský 2 , Radek Novák 3

ČESKÁ SPOŘITELNA, A. S. 1, 2, 3 Economic and Strategic Research Budějovická 1518/13b, Praha 4, 140 00 Czech Republic e-mail: radeknovak@csas.cz 3

Abstract The automotive industry is facing many challenges all over the world. In the medium term, the most crucial task, especially for the EU, is transitioning from internal combustion engines to low-emission drives. This task is part of the global effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The technology connected with battery-electric cars is key to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the automotive industry. Developments in recent years have clearly positioned China as a global leader in the field of electromobility. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the current state of the Chinese electric car market and situate it in the context of global production and demand for electric cars. The paper also focuses on Chinese policies aimed at supporting electromobility and expanding domestic electric car manufacturers, as well as recent trends in China’s automotive exports. Keywords: China, automotive industry, electric vehicles, export JEL Classification: L62, L94, F41, F23, Q56 1. Introduction The fight against global warming is no longer a concern of the European Union only. In 2015, the parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change signed the Paris Agreement. The Agreement’s goal is to keep the growth of average global temperatures significantly below 2° C, and preferably to 1.5 ° C, compared to the period before the industrial revolution. The Agreement has been ratified by 196 countries of the world, including the EU, the United States, Russia, and China (United Nations, 2022). The main task in the effort to limit further warming of the Earth is reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. Therefore, individual countries of the world have established dates before which they want to achieve zero net emissions of greenhouse gases. The most-developed countries have committed themselves to achieving so-called carbon neutrality by the year 2050. China wants to reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases to zero by the year 2060, but also to halt the growth of greenhouse gas emissions in its domestic economy by the year 2030 (United Nations, 2022b). Emissions of greenhouse gases from means of transportation are one of the most important factors in climate change. In the United States and Germany, the share of the transportation sector in overall emissions is about one third. In China, because of its

97